4 Homemade Ingredients To Make From Scratch

For many chefs, cooking is all about a sense of craftsmanship. With their hands and a few simple ingredients, they can whip together a collection of heartfelt dishes to feed family and friends, and that level of commitment shows in homemade meals, which often don’t contain harmful components like processed sugar and saturated fats. Why shouldn’t this dedication extend to the ingredients themselves, the building blocks of all great meals? By making things like salt, butter, bread dough and cheese on their own, chefs can put even more of their heart and soul into the meals they prepare.

Sea salt
Not only is sea salt often more flavorful than its traditional counterpart, but it can help maintain your body’s electrolyte balance, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Making sea salt begins by filtering seawater. Dinner With Julie suggested using coffee filters or cheesecloth, which will help cut back on the amount of wasted salt residue. From there, boil the water for an hour until all that remains in the pot is the salt. It’s a good idea to use a stainless steel pot for the process, as the greater surface area will help streamline the evaporation process. Approximately 1.5 liters of seawater will result in a quarter cup of sea salt, DWJ noted.

Butter
People have been making butter in their homes for centuries. Luckily, a great recipe from Happy Hooligans doesn’t require a ton of effort or an old-timey churn. In fact, all you’ll need is heavy cream, a thick mason jar and some marbles. Pour the cream and the marbles into the jar, seal it shut and shake for 10 minutes. About halfway through the process, you’ll have whipped cream. After another few minutes, the jar will contain not only the solid butter but also buttermilk, which you can save for subsequent recipes. The marbles are mostly optional; some kitchen gurus believe their added momentum helps improve the thickening process.

Bread dough
As The Simple Dollar noted, store-bought breads contain many artificial ingredients that keep the bread fresh. Homemade bread is made of much simpler ingredients, requiring just milk, sugar, flour, yeast and butter. Begin by filling a bowl with warm water, which will make the entire mixing process all that much easier. After combining the ingredients together, the really crucial step is how the dough is kneaded. Always use flour, which will keep the dough from sticking to the countertop. Don’t just roll the dough. Instead, try repeatedly punching it flat to remove any air bubbles. Finally, the dough needs to rise for about an hour. When it is fully risen, the mound of dough should be twice its original size

Cheese
There are several varieties of cheese that can be made right at home. Cultures for Health suggested lactic cheese, given its sheer variety of uses, which includes a cream cheese replacement, an herbed spread and a filling for crepes. To make this wonder cheese, you’ll need whole milk, a few drops of vegetable rennet – an enzyme normally found in mammals’ stomachs – and direct-set mesophilic cultures, which can be purchased online at specific culture retailers.. Just combine the ingredients and let them sit for 12 hours, at which point curds will form. Afterward, scoop the curds into a fine cheesecloth and allow them to drain for another 10 hours. If refrigerated, lactic cheese should last about two weeks.